Weekend Box Office

Box Office Guru Wrapup: Audiences Still Crazy for McLovin

Bad is good, black is white, the millenium approaches!

Booze and babes were still in high demand as
the teen sex comedy
Superbad ruled the North American box office for the second straight
weekend despite the arrival of a handful of new releases. Most of the debuting
films were met with disappointing sales since ticket buyers spent their time and
money catching up on popular holdover titles which commanded the top three
spots.

The supercool kids of
Superbad remained the leaders of the pack with an estimated weekend
gross of $18M, falling 46% from last weekend. After ten days, the Sony smash has
taken in an impressive $68.6M and could be on its way to $120M or more. That
would give the raunchy hit a domestic gross nearly seven times its production
cost of $18M. Superbad is the first summer film to spend back-to-back
weekends at number one since Pirates of
the Caribbean: At World’s End which bowed over Memorial Day weekend in
May. Sony has now claimed the number one film nine times in 2007, more than any
other studio.

Rising one spot to second place wasMatt Damon‘s
latest assassin flick The Bourne Ultimatum
which slipped only 38% to an estimated $12.4M. It was the fourth best
fourth-weekend gross of any summer film this year after the threequel
triumvirate of Shrek the Third ($15.3M),Spider-Man 3($14.3M), and Pirates
($12.4M). With $185.1M in the bank for Universal, Bourne has now outgrossed
every James Bond film domestically (in nominal dollar terms), both previousBourne films, and two of the three Mission: Impossible pics. Ultimatumis still
on track to hit the $200M mark by the end of Labor Day weekend and will give a
serious challenge to this decade’s top action films that are not driven by
special effects – Rush Hour 2 ($226.2M in 2001) and Mission: Impossible 2
($215.4M in 2000).

New Line’s action-comedy sequelRush Hour 3 fell 43%
to an estimated $12.3M in its third mission. TheJackie Chan–Chris
Tucker threequel has collected $109M in 17 days and is on track to finish
with $140-145M.

In a tight race among new releases, the family film Mr. Bean’s Holiday
edged out the action film War
for fourth place. Universal’s G-rated comedy opened to an estimated $10.1M from
1,714 theaters for a solid $5,905 average. TheRowan Atkinson
starrer has already grossed a stellar $189M internationally. Debuting close
behind with an estimated $10M was the R-rated crime drama War which
averaged a mediocre $4,392 from 2,277 locations. StarringJet Li andJason Statham,
the Lionsgate release opened close to the numbers of the last films from the two
actors. Last September, Li’s Fearless bowed to
$10.6M and a $5,857 average while Statham’s Crank launched with
$10.5M over three days and a $4,158 average. Putting the two together did little
to broaden the audience, however.

MGM landed in sixth place with a disappointing opening for the comedy The Nanny Diaries
which grossed an estimated $7.8M. Playing in 2,629 theaters, the PG-13 pic based
on the popular novel averaged just $2,971 per site.

The year’s top-grossing non-rat toon The Simpsons Movie
dropped 36% to an estimated $4.4M in its fifth frame boosting the cume to
$173.4M for Fox. Paramount’s fantasy adventure Stardust grossed an
estimated $4M, off only 30%, for a total of $26.5M.

Moviegoers kept going back for more musical fun as New Line’s Hairspray dipped a
mere 23% in its sixth session to an estimated $3.5M and raised its overall cume
to $107.5M. Rounding out the top ten was the sci-fi flop The Invasion which
tumbled 47% in its second weekend to an estimated $3.1M. The Warner Bros.
release has taken in just $11.5M in ten days and should end with a miserable
$16-18M.

Three national releases dumped into the late-August abyss debuted outside of the
top ten with weak results. Yari Film Group’s well-reviewed boxing drama Resurrecting
the Champ starringSamuel L.
Jackson and
Josh Hartnett opened with an estimated $1.8M from 1,605 theaters for a poor
$1,152 average. Universal’s Latino crime drama Illegal Tender
bowed to an estimated $1.4M from 512 sites for a mild $2,805 average. The most
miserable results came from theJon Voight
film September Dawn
which grossed an estimated $600,000 from 850 playdates for an embarrassing $706
per-theater average for Slowhand Releasing.

In limited release, theMandy Moore
drama Dedication
got off to a moderate start collecting an estimated $24,000 from only four
venues for an average of $6,000 on its opening weekend for The Weinstein Co.

Three films dropped out of the top ten over the weekend.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix grossed an estimated $2.5M,
down 34%, lifting the domestic haul to $283.3M. Despite the midweek launch in
July, the fifth wizard pic should end up with a final take nearly identical to
the $290M taken in by the last installment
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire which had a Friday opening in
November which has been the most common type of launch for the franchise.

Buena Vista’s family film Underdog fell 42% to
an estimated $2.2M and put its sum at $36.6M. A $42-44M final seems likely. Adam Sandler‘s
latest comedy blockbuster I
Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry grossed an estimated $2.1M, down 42%,
and gave Universal a total of $114.3M to date. The comedian has now generated
$100M blockbusters over six consecutive years trailing only Tom Cruise whose
streak is currently at seven straight years. Look for Chuck to end its
run with roughly $120M.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $85.5M which was up 12% from last year
when Invincible opened in first place with $17M; and up 10% from 2005 whenThe
40-Year-Old Virgin remained in the top spot with $16.3M.